Splintered Reunion
by Marengo227
Summary: Lauriam finally finds his sister, alone in Daybreak Town. Though he's initially overjoyed, it soon gives way to shock as he discovers that something is very wrong with Strelitzia. A brief oneshot.


If there was one thing that was more reliable than anything else, it was that Daybreak Town was always a comfortable sight. The humble houses, the townsfolk with their lively conversations and cheerful smiles, and the bell tower towering above it all, as if a watchful sentinel. The peace it instilled in one's heart was incomparable. Though, sometimes even that peace wasn't enough to calm someone with enough worries.

She was someone like that. The first problem, and probably the most important, was that she didn't remember her own name. Every time she attempted to retrieve the memory, it was like stepping through mud, attempting to find a specific blade of grass in a foggy swamp. The second problem was that she had no other memories, either. On second thought, that was probably the worst problem. A name, she could do without. Any recollection of her past, she would rather have.

For some odd reason, she wished to avoid the people she saw roaming the town. Something about them bothered her in a way she couldn't quite put her finger on. Still, the feeling was strong enough to encourage her to lay low. She had taken refuge under a stone bridge, curling up in a ball as she watched water gently flow past. There were a few crates and barrels with her, but they contained nothing but hay and oats, which didn't help her much at all. She _did_ need to eat, right? She wasn't hungry, but that didn't mean food wasn't necessary. Maybe she just hadn't gone long enough without it.

Though, that stream of thoughts led to the question of why she was here in the first place. She had awoken in a dank, dark building, all alone and deprived of any and all memory. She had no belongings with her aside from the clothes on her back. Had she been robbed? Perhaps that was it; she felt a strong sense that there was something she had lost, something that was very important to her.

As she twirled a finger through her orange hair, she heard footsteps approaching from nearby. Her first instinct, for reasons that she couldn't explain, was to hide behind those crates, but before she could, she could hear the telltale sharp intake of breath that signified her having been spotted. Her next instinct was to run, but a voice calling out to her made her stop in an instant. "Strelitzia!"

That name sounded so _familiar_. Was it hers? Was it the name of someone she knew? Was it even a name, or did it mean something else? Hesitantly, she turned around to face the stranger, only to be met with his body slamming against her own. His arms wrapped tightly around her, gripping her back as if all it would take for her to leave was a soft gust of wind to blow her away. "Strelitzia, it's you! Oh, you're…you're really here…" Was this boy…crying? His whole body heaved with every choked gasp.

"Who…" Her own voice came out dry and crackly, and she realized she had not spoken once since she woke up. She paused, clearing her throat. "Who are you?"

Strelitzia was alive. She was well and truly alive, and discovering that made Lauriam happy beyond words. He really had begun to suspect the worst, and those suspicions had been eating him up inside for weeks. But she wasn't dead, she was alive, she was here. The only problem was that she treated him like a stranger. She didn't remember who he was.

Despite some resistance, Lauriam eventually convinced his sister to come home with him, where he'd explain everything. As it turned out, trying to explain his sister's identity to her was a far more daunting task than he initially had expected. She never spoke a word throughout his entire explanation, instead just sitting on a wooden chair, her legs aimlessly kicking back and forth in the air. There was something off about her, something wrong. His sister, while certainly quieter and more thoughtful than most, was still a bright and cheery girl. But right now, it was as if she were just a doll being pulled by strings.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't remember you." Strelitzia clenched her hands into fists, staring remorsefully at the ground. "I feel awful, not being able to remember my own brother…" Lauriam was quick to get up from his chair and walk over to her, setting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright. You being here is all that matters right now. I'm sure we'll be able to figure out what happened to your memory in no time." As it turned out, Lauriam was more correct than he knew. His Chirithy had been out all day, also assisting in the search, as he usually did. They tended to split up so they could cover more ground, and as a result, Chirithy hadn't yet found out about the discovery. The small creature looked at Strelitzia and jumped back, crying out in shock.

"L-L-Lauriam! What is that!?" Chirithy exclaimed, trembling from head to toe as it pointed at Strelitzia.

"Chirithy, it's alright! It's Strelitzia! We found her, we finally found her!" Lauriam glanced over to his sister, only to see a curious sight; the girl barely seemed to register any emotion on her face. Chirithy's terror at the sight of her didn't bother her in the slightest, judging by her lack of a reaction.

"That's not Strelitzia!" Chirithy managed to gain enough courage to run up to Lauriam and hop up onto his shoulder. "You don't see it?"

"See what? Chirithy, what are you on about?" Lauriam asked, seeing that his sister was getting somewhat worried. She didn't seem to understand what Chirithy was talking about, either. "How can that not be her?"

"There's no…" Chirithy looked like he didn't know exactly how to tell Lauriam what was going on. "There's no heart. It doesn't have a heart." The lack of emotion, the amnesia, the strange behavior, it all clicked in his head. What was sitting on that wooden chair wasn't Strelitzia. It was a Nobody. And if that was a Nobody, then that meant his sister really was dead.

"What's…" Strelitzia's double spoke with a somewhat dull voice as it looked back and forth between Lauriam and Chirithy. "…a Nobody?"


End file.
